Kentucky going to seize 141 online gambling domains

Thomas Wingate, Franklin County Circuit Judge, will be holding a forfeiture hearing concerning domains to 141 online gambling sites on Friday in Frankfort, Kentucky. Last week, the Commonwealth of Kentucky was granted an order to seize these domain names as part of lawsuit trying to force gambling operators to stop offering online services to Kentucky residents.

“Unlicensed, illegal, unregulated Internet gambling poses a terrible threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its availability, ease and anonymity,” Governor Steve Beshear said in a statement. “The owners and operators of the illegal sites prey on Kentucky residents, including our youth, and deprive the Commonwealth of millions of dollars in revenue.”

The statement said: “By seizing the domain names, the state of Kentucky can require that the illegal casino operators use available technology to block their domain names from being accessed in the Commonwealth.”

Among the sites targeted by Governor Steve Beshear are PokerStars, Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Sloto’cash and Bodog.

The list of sites targeted was “developed by attorneys and are sites where people from Kentucky with Kentucky addresses, were able to put bets,” said the communications director for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Jennifer Brislin, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the government.

Brislin added that the targeted domains are held by a mix of international and domestic registrars.

Kentucky does not have a law that specifically targets online gambling. But it has laws prohibiting possession and use of gambling devices. Brislin says that in the case of this lawsuit domain names are considered to be gambling devices.

Brislin said: “Our end game is to stop that activity within Kentucky.” “We have no interest to shut it down elsewhere in the country or in the world.”

Joe Kelly, Buffalo State business law professor, says that while the lawsuit has generated plenty of buzz, it is unlikely that the order will hold up to federal scrutiny.

Kelly said: “If a state can do this, it would create chaos.” “Can you imagine if some province in South Africa asked for seizure if they didn’t like violence? Here’s an American company putting on a show and allowing South Africans access to it, but because it is against the province’s law, they’d ask for the same remedy as Kentucky.”

Kelly added: “If the federal government did this, at least it’s the country requesting the action — not a state within a state.” “This is sort of thing that should be regulated at the national or international level.”

Kelly also said that the case wouldn’t likely hold up under federal scrutiny.

“This could very well violate the Commerce Clause. If fifty states could do this sort of thing, there would be a negative impact,” Kelly added.

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